I only bring this up because of a recent conversation I had with another .tv developer.

We felt that .tv is now entering, if it is not already in, the second stage of its growth cycle.

The indications are all around us, but we may not realize it until we step away from the activity over the last six months and look closely at what has happened.

YouTube in a matter of two years delivered an average of 1 million streams a day before Google purchased the site.

YouTube is not the only place one can visit to find a library of user created content, but the transaction is a barometer of things to come. 

People continue to ask me whether they should expand their domain portfolio to include .mobi domains. My answer is maybe, but only if you acquire good general keywords.

However, they were most likely taken in the first few rounds of the .mobi acquisitions since they were somewhat affordable as compared to .tv keyword names, which are priced as premium names. 

Last year, I attended a trade show in Vegas and we were among only a handful of companies acquiring video content. This year was different.

There were ten times as many doing documentaries, news coverage, or reality television. Most were all doing this for the Internet. Of course, ESPN and SPEED were there (I am involved with the automotive industry and this was the biggest aftermarket trade show).

I have more info I need to get up on the site so you can read some of the latest headlines and some .tv sightings that will be of interest to the .tv community here. I continue to learn of new Internet TV operations that have $XX million dollar budgets when I attend events like this and speak to other directors and producers. 

Sports.tv, one of the biggest premium names in dotTV Corporation’s porfolio sold today for an undisclosed amount. Lets just say the buyer got an incredible deal.

Many of you will learn the details very soon through your own contacts and can post that information here but I felt the very fact that Sports.tv sold is incredibly good news for the .tv industry. The individual in question who purchased this domain certainly has the money to develop it…

This rant is dedicated to all the naysayers.

If you do not have the pocketbook or the balls to pony up money and invest in a .tv name, do not attempt to pollute the .tv forum of NamePros with your unsupported assertions that the .tv extension is a joke.

If you feel this way, you probably feel an intense dislike for the extension because Verisign saw a future in the .tv extension and invested upwards of $45+ million to buy the entire extension from that little, disappearing island called Tuvalu. Or maybe it is the $50 cost of non-premium domain names, the cost of premium domain names, or the renewal fees of any of those. Now, I cannot say I agree that news.tv or business.tv is worth anything close to what the dot tv corporation is asking, but I know that certain premium registrations are a bargain. 

"The median domain name resale price rose 24 percent between 2004 and 2005, according to industry analysts. All current indicators point to further growth, making domain names a highly attractive addition to an investment portfolio and demonstrating they are assets that require effective management.”

I attended a dinner party that I almost did not make because I really was not interested in going. In fact, I pulled off the freeway and thought about saving myself the half an hour I would sit in traffic; I wanted to meet up with some friends who I had not seen for almost 8 years. Something in me said to go so I pulled back onto the freeway, fought traffic, and attended the party.

Keep in mind, most people at this party either have no experience in the Internet world or they have experience with real property and no experience in the Internet world. Consequently, they do not truly understand the state of the Internet and the direction it is going.

Back to the story: I was introduced to a man in his mid to late forties. He used to develop Internet properties for other companies, he was offered jobs at some of the major price comparison companies that you see on the Internet, and he now works closely with video game companies. Nevertheless, we enter an engaging discussion about the Internet and online domains as property, like real estate. Meanwhile, nobody around can believe we are nerding out on this and they cannot fully grasp the depth of the conversation.